I was thinking about how to do these episode reviews. The answer is just to do them casually. No format or anything, just going to write out my thoughts on it. I have a very good influences for this. Their names are Irina and Karandi and they are some of the coolest people that I know and just has a lot of good thoughts put into what works for both of. So, going to do that and this should be a lot of fun. Especially since Shenmue in general has been fun so far and I want these reviews to show all of that.
With that said, this episode felt the most video gamey so far. Which makes sense considering that Shenmue is based on a series of video games, but it’s just the way this episode was laid out. our Ryo walks from place to place. He learns about clues like the ideas behind what the people (Chi You Men) who killed his father were after, the mirror. He does learn what that is and then travel from place to place gathering information until he finds it. That is of course with help from Master Chen and his own art trading group.
None of that is bad thing considering it also increases the mystery of what Ryo’s father was involved in. The scope changed. Who is this Master Chen and his son? How were they involved with his father? What is the actual scope? What about the mirrors? What do they do? What is this rivalry between Chen and Chi You Men about and how does it relate to Ryo’s father? Lots of things to really contemplate as the game is moving to Hong Kong and Ryo most find his way to getting there because no one else is taking him. This is his own journey after all.
What I also like is the small under current of Chen vs Chi You Men that was prevalent into this series before our protagonist even knew about it. The Mad Angels that Ryo beat up are associated with Lan Di and Chi You Men and those people thought he was associated with Chen. Before he even knew what was going on, Ryo involved himself into that world by beating up some thugs. He really did beat up some thugs and find the criminal underworld of Yokosuka through his himbo methods of per honesty. It’s hilarious.
I suppose soon, Ryo will find his way to the mysterious Shenhua in her small town with her prediction towards it. Obviously, that new visitor is going to be Ryo after all. Poor Harasaki is going to be sad when he disappears. Man. Still, the experience and characters Ryo sees along the way are pretty hilarious. With this show looking as good as it does, Shenmue just feels like its going to be fun all the way through. It’s not a perfect show because it’s very video gamey and very streamlined, but it has a good core that I enjoy so far. Plus some really good grounded action. So I guess it passed that three episode test for me and I hope it keeps up.
Mechanical Anime Reviews 